The other Baldwin, er, Harbaugh addresses media

The 49ers didn’t have any media availability today but Baltimore Ravens coach did meet with reporters for the final time before his team travels Monday to New Orleans.

Here is what John Harbaugh said in a transcript provided by the Ravens’ outstanding PR staff:

Head Coach John Harbaugh

Opening statement: “Good to see everybody. Thanks for being here. We have the hardcore contingent. We appreciate you guys that have been with us all year. We appreciate everything you’ve done. This being our last practice here in Baltimore, it’s been a great year. It’s been a great year with the media, and we appreciate everything you do for us and the connection that you make with our fans. It means everything. We have great fans, we have great media. We have a great organization. We’re pulling up stakes on Monday and heading down to New Orleans to begin the final week of the Super Bowl preparations. We’ve had a great week. We’ve been through the whole week this week in terms of a normal week. We went Thursday, Friday, Saturday as if it was a normal Wednesday-Thursday-Friday week. So, today was a Friday practice in football time, and we had an excellent practice. Our guys are very sharp, and they’re excited, and we’ll have to get down there and do just as well and do better. We’ll have to build on these practices, we’ll have to stack good practices to be ready to play a great football team in the San Francisco 49ers – a very well-coached football team, I might add.”

Was it important to have a good practice week here because of the hoopla that is going to be going on down there? (Dave Ginsburg)“It is just always to have a good practice no matter what. You have to practice well to play well, and you pretty much play the way you practice. That is something that we’ve learned since we were kids, and that is not going to change. So, we need to build on these practices, and we need to improve every single day.”

What is the best advice anyone has given you about the big game? (Aaron Wilson)“First of all, we think you are either getting better or you are getting worse. You never stay the same. You better be improving right up to the last breath you take. That is the No. 1 thing. The other thing is it is about football. It’s not about anything other than that, and we try to keep it simple, keep that focus on where it belongs and keep it about the important things.”

What kind of progression have you seen from Terrell Suggs,and if you have seen those kind of progressive games in terms of his explosiveness? (Matt Zenitz)“We haven’t monitored or charted his explosive quotient so far, but he is getting better. I think he is becoming quicker, faster, more explosive, stronger, all of those things. You can tell that it is healing, and he is just playing more like a normal, 100-percent Terrell Suggs would play. So, what you are seeing is exactly right.”

Do you get the feeling that there is not one person that is happy to be here, but rather just focused on winning this game since you’ve gotten this far? (Dave Ginsburg)“Right, I agree with that. Our guys, that’s all we’re are thinking about right now. There is an old saying … I was thinking about Aaron’s question: ‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ That is good wisdom right there. And our guys have done that. Our guys are football players. Our guys love ball. Our guys are into that part of it. I saw a quote that [49ers head coach] Jim [Harbaugh] had, in terms of enjoying this moment, but enjoying the most important part of this moment, which is the football. That is the best part of it. We can do the other stuff anytime, but it is not very often that you get an opportunity to prepare for the Super Bowl, and that is what our guys are enjoying.”

John, there is so much made of Ray Lewis’ last ride. There is a good chance this could be Matt Birk’s last ride. What are your thoughts on what he has meant to this ball club and to Joe Flacco? (Stan Charles) “I’m not sure about Matt’s plans, and if he decides to come back next year, that’d be awesome. But, Matt Birk has been a huge part of this program for the last four years. He has been a huge part of Joe’s development, as you just noted. He is smart, he is tough. To my eye, he is playing the best football that he’s played since he’s been here right now at this point. To have that be true at the end of a 24-game season is very impressive. So, he’s just done a great job for us, and we would not be where we’re at without Matt Birk.”

What went into the decision to bring in Juan Castillo as a consultant, and what will he bring to this organization now and next year as the run game coordinator? (Luke Jones) “Juan is a tremendous football coach. He had lots of opportunities. He has been coaching in the National Football League for a long time – both sides of the ball, obviously, with a lot of responsibility. [He is] highly knowledgeable; a great teacher. I had a chance to work with him for 10 years in Philadelphia, so I know this man very well, know his family. He is a very good person. And, it’s an opportunity for us to improve our football team, the overall talent pool that we have here. Whether it’s player or coach, we try to get better. You either get better, or you get worse. So, we add him into our staff, which already is just a great staff, and it makes us better, and that’s the whole idea.”

Just to follow up on that, what is the role of the run game coordinator? (Aaron Wilson) “It’s an opportunity to kind of define – I think even further – what that role is. He’ll be a lead coach in terms of the run game and organizing the run game for us. Of course, he’ll work closely with [offensive coordinator] Jim [Caldwell] and all the coaches. Who’s in charge of what? Guys work together on a staff. Coach Caldwell has done a great job of making that point time and time again. That’s true on the defensive staff, too. Coach [defensive coordinator Dean] Pees has made that point as well, so it exemplifies what guys do, and it’s a good opportunity to give credit sometimes where credit is due.”

Did Juan Castillo have any design at all about coaching defense, or did he want to go back to being on the offensive side of the ball? (Martin Frank) “You’ll get a chance to talk to him about that at some point in time, but he had lots of opportunities, I can tell you that, on both sides of the ball to be a lot of different things because that’s the kind of coach he is. It ranges from assistant head coach, an offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator and those things are all things that to a coach of his caliber, those were opportunities that he had, and he chose to come here.”

John, I know what you think of your coaching staff. There is a term “coaching up.” Do you think your coaching staff has done about as good of a job of coaching up its players? (Stan Charles) “Thank you. ‘Coaching up’ is a great term. What does it mean? Well, you coach guys up. To us, it means you coach up. You coach them to their full potential. You coach every single guy. You raise the expectation, you raise the bar, you raise the level. Hopefully, you coach them right up into their hopes and their dreams, and our guys do a great job of that.”

Speaking of that, how about Dean Pees? Unbelievable job given how much he has to plug in. You have to feel appreciative of the work that he’s done and that you had him available when you had to replace another defensive coordinator. (Dave Ginsburg) “Right. Dean has done a great job, and there was no question that he was going to do a great job because he is a tremendous coach, he is a high-character individual. The players respected him. You can tell how much they like him and how strongly they feel about him, and they really respond to him. Not just Dean, the whole coaching staff on defense has done a great job.”

As you go through the process and the moments seem like they start to get bigger because you’re getting closer to the actual game, how do you keep yourself at an even keel and how do you keep the players that way? Is there anything in particular that you’ve been taking in over the last week? (Mark Zinno)“Taking in? (Zinno: “Yeah, as far as the experience just being part of it.”) We say this the first day of minicamp, in the middle of training camp we say it: ‘Where else would you rather be?’ I was informed by Matt Birk today that it was not an original Harbaugh statement, which I thought it was. I was taking full credit for it, but he informed me that [former Bills head coach] Marv Levy said that originally. Thank you, Marv. It’s a great point. Where else would you rather be? And certainly, where else would you rather be than preparing for a Super Bowl. So yeah, you have to drink that in a little bit. I think one thing that is kind of a good point is that the stage is big, but the field is small. It’s 53 1/3 [feet wide]. It’s 120 yards long. There are going to be these big thick white lines right there. We are going to be in between those white lines. You take that into perspective. We might show them ‘Hoosiers,’ show them that scene from ‘Hoosiers.’ Gene Hackman, who I met –tremendous guy. Mr. Hackman, how are you doing? We’ll show them that scene, I think.”

Counting preseason, you prepared for 23 games with a certain routine. Now the biggest game, the routine changes. What are the challenges of trying to maintain some of your routine but doing it differently? (Mark Viviano)“You just hit it right on the head. We’re going to try to maintain as much of the routine as we possibly can, and the differences will be understood. The differences will be a media session in the middle of the morning on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have to break away from our normal routine and go to the media session. We’ll come back after lunch and pick up our routine again, so we’ll push the day back a little bit later. Other than that, it will be the exact same routine that we always use.”

Jacoby [Jones] said his mom is going to cook. Are you designated for a plate of that, right? (Aaron Wilson)“Absolutely – hopefully two. Monday after we have some meetings, we are going to have a little shindig at the hotel. I guess gumbo is going to be there. I can’t wait.”

I know [Ed] Dickson’s numbers are down some this year. His role has diminished some as a pass catcher. How valuable has he still been to the offense? (Matt Zenitz)“Ed [Dickson] had some injury issues in the middle of the season; there were two that he fought through. Ed’s a threat. Ed’s a vertical threat. He’s a crossing route threat. He’s made some big plays for us, especially on some ‘nakeds’ lately. The thing that you don’t see as much, he has really blocked really well. He’s done a great job at the point of attack, so he’s kind of a complete tight end for us.”

As you guys move your base of operations to New Orleans, while being focused here, have you been able to take in what this city is doing and what that means before you leave? (Mark Viviano) “In all honesty, I would have to admit that I probably have not been able to see as much as I would like. I had a chance to talk to my wife last night, and she was telling me about the school and what people are doing at school and around town. If you guys want to hit me with some video or something like that, I’d love to see some of that stuff.”

You have guys like Bobbie Williams who is in his 13th year, and this is his first Super Bowl. You have a couple of guys like that. What do you think it means for a guy like that being in the league for so long and finally getting this opportunity? (Martin Frank) “I don’t know if I can put words to it. Bobbie is prettyloquacious. He could do a good job of describing that for you and so will those other guys. We have some articulate guys and guys that, obviously, this means a lot to.”

About a month ago you had a young man named Matt Jeffers up here visiting with the team. He spent some time with you. What about his note made it stand out? What does that do for the team to have guys like that?(Jon Meoli) “Thanks for bringing up Matt – Matt Jeffers. Thanks, Matt, for everything you did for us. Matt was an inspiration to us in kind of our darkest hour during the season. He’s a really bright, thoughtful guy who has been through a lot in his life, who basically let us know that there are no winning streaks in life; there are no losing streaks in life. There are only [ways on] how you approach those things. There is only attitude, and your attitude is what makes everything. Our guys really responded to that. I think it really made a difference in our season.”

There are a lot of coaches that have really rough times, but say similar things to what you were saying in that darkest moment. What gave that the credence it had in the locker room here?(Stan Charles) “I would say the guys responded to those types of things. It was Matt [Jeffers] and others; it was kids who visited us from California with cancer – the Munoz family. Ty [Guzman], who I mentioned last week, and others who I wish [I remembered] off the top of my head – maybe [senior vice president of public and community relations] Kevin [Byrne] can get everybody to you later. Because our guys have such good character, they respond to that. They recognize that. They have empathy and a heart for others. I think they were able to put themselves in the shoes of some people that came around and learned lessons from that.”

Cam Inman

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I really enjoy the way this transcript notes which media member was responsible for which question. Any chance that might find its way to future 49ers Transcripts? 🙂

Royal Flush

I totally agree Hac Man. It’s good to see who’s posing the questions. These are great questions by the Baltimore media – well phrased and for the most part, can elicit an interesting or insightful response. Why can’t the Niners media do the same? It’s no wonder Jim Harbaugh gets irritated with them. Half the time I can’t even understand their asinine questions.

#7

My guess is that the Ravens will try to put a big pass rush on CK and contain his running. They will also try to stip the ball. CK tends to hold it losely. 9ers O-line will need to pound away. I think the Pistol and Jumbo packages will work. The Pistol gets CK away from the pass rush and allows him to do things. It will be a tough fought game. The team with least turnovers wins.